Long-Anticipated Target Store Approaches Grand Opening

Employees of the Minneapolis-based discount retailer Target were putting the final touches on the Fort Smith-located store on Monday in preparation for its official opening this Saturday, October 11. 

Michael Flowers, Target store team leader, says "We're about done, and I've been here since this site was covered in rubble."

The new store, which is located at the Fort Smith Pavilion shopping center on Phoenix Avenue, will open Saturday alongside 30 or 40 other Target stores in other states. All stores are opening on October 11 because a nationally-set goal administratively facilitates the volume-buying of fixtures, merchandise, and the other materials necessary to open and equip a new Target store, Flowers said. The company also has stores scheduled to open in both March and July 2009. Target currently operates about 1,500 stores in 47 states.  

Store hours of the Fort Smith location will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Flowers notes that, during the holiday shopping season, hours are extended an extra hour each day.

The Fort Smith location boasts 145,000-square-feet of shopping, including a Starbucks cafe and a Pizza Hut Express restaurant. According to city building permit information, the construction value of the new Target store is roughly $5 million.

Fort Smith's new Target store will employ 180 people initially but, depending on the strength of business, may seek to employ 20 more workers.

Also in Fort Smith Pavilion, Best Buy officially opened last Friday and retailers and restaurants including Books-A-Million, Michael's, Shoe Carnival, Lane Bryant, Cheddar's, Chick-Fil-A, Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy, Dress Barn, and Ulta, are scheduled to open in upcoming months. 

Flowers attributes this great number of retailers coming to the Fort Smith Pavilion location because, "City planners are developing the roads around here. It's where things are happening, convenient to Interstate 540 and thoroughfares. The airport is nearby, and the view is great."